


Lies, Compass, and Red Threads

by Lilac_Motion



Series: Soulmates Gaiden [7]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Drabbles, F/M, NejiTen - Freeform, Romantic Comedy, ShikaTema, Soulmates prompt, asukure, compass that leads to your soulmate, every lie your soulmate tells you appears on your skin, red threads of fate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-16
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-08-22 19:49:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8298251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilac_Motion/pseuds/Lilac_Motion
Summary: Three short fills to three different soulmates prompts: Lies (Neji/Tenten), every lie you tell your soulmate appear on their skin.  Compass (Asuma/Kurenai), soulmates have a compass that points them to each other.  Red Threads (Shikamaru/Temari), soulmates can find each other by red threads only they could see.  The first two pieces are Neji/Tenten and Asuma/Kurenai, angst with major character death.  The last one is Shikamaru/Temari, a light romantic comedy





	

**The First and Only Lie** (Neji/Tenten – lies from your soulmate shows up on your skin)

Neji and Tenten knew that they were each other's soulmates at the end of their first sparring session together.  Neji shirt was stained red from where Tenten had skimmed his side with her sickle, but Neji had jammed several of her chakra coils from her left shoulder down to her waist.  She was wobbling on her feet while cleaning his cut, and he had asked her if she was alright, Tenten had said, "I'm fine", only to see those very words blooming black across Neji's stomach.  She doesn't lie to him after that.

Tenten's skin have long been marred by battle scars – but not a single lie.  The day when the war finally ends, Tenten stripped down and found on her skin the words that almost broke her: "I'll come back."

 

 

 **Where the Heart Points** (Asuma/Kurenai, a compass that points to your soulmate)

Before Asuma had returned to Konoha to be a jounin sensei, they met infrequently, and kept in touch mostly by coded mail, but she imagines sometimes, that if she could see far enough, she would see him looking back at her, the two of them looking often in each other's direction, no matter the distance.

Together, the two of them were calm, contented people, they always knew which way their heart lies.  Then one day the compass disappears from Kurenai’s wrists - and she was unmoored.

 

 

 **Troublesome Red Strings** (Shikamaru/Temari, when soulmates are linked by red threads that only they could see)

On one of Shikamaru's inspired, productive days (when Ino had bull horned him into it), he had try to trace the other end of his red string.  It stretched across the city and through the gates, where there was a long line of people waiting to set out from Konoha.  Shikamaru shrugged and lain down on the first thick patch of grass he found.  One of the clouds kinda looked like Ino's fist closing in, and another one looked like Sarutobi-sensei, frowning, so Shikamaru gave up cloud-watching and took a nap instead.

The string moved a lot during the approach to the Chunnin Exam, and though Shikamaru is sure that his soulmate is now within Konoha, he made no move to seek her out – if it was someone he would spend the rest of his life with, she's sure to be capable enough for him to meet her in the exams.

When Shikamaru meets Temari at last, down in the stadium before the audience of several countries, she greets him with an angry scowl – "I was here for weeks, and you didn't even seek me out?  What kind of man are you?” her fans unfurls to three spheres at once.  Shikamaru calculated his odds and wished that this was a real mission where he could call for back-up at the start.

**Author's Note:**

> Shikamaru could have asked why Temari didn't look for him - but he was rather attached to being alive.


End file.
